Hi, I had operation 2 months ago as I was rushed to Hospital,after Perforation of my colon,they installed a Stoma and I use a colostomy bag,I had this done in Mexico and will be returning to get 2nd Surgery(reconnection),my question is "how many months have others waited,before 2nd Surgery,my Surgeon was not clear on exactly when I should get the reconnection,also does anyone know what the reason is to wait X amount of months before scheduling 2nd Surgery,and is the 2nd Surgery more complex,I was told a longer hospital stay for 2nd Surgery,I am 50 yrs old,and got past the 2nd Surgery pretty well,although it was certainly not easy,Thank-you as I do not have a Doctor here in NYC,and looking for any info I can get,I am returning to Mexico in 3 weeks,Thanks.
Morning Kevin, one is inclined to ask, why you are doing such vast mileage to receive care. In all honesty. I think you are on the wrong forum ,a surgical one that
has stoma patients you can talk to ,or even look for colon surgery
I feel sorry that you are going through a "what next" phase ,it seems par for the
course with D.D
Which country do you actually live in,.?Cost sounds as though it plays a big part
in your treatment
I do hope you get the bag removed ,and start to get well
Take care
Jacqui
I live in Mexico most of the year now,and do not have health insurance,this happened to me while I was in Mexico,and though I am back in the States for 1 month,I will be getting my 2nd Surgery back in Mexico with the same Surgeon who did my 1st Surgery.Thanks for the reply.
Obviously I don't know anything about helathcare in Mexico or your particular case, but my own experience after a perforated bowel with severse sepsis andICU admission was that it would take a year before I could have further surgery as the infection takes a longtime to leave your system, so I expect your surgeon will make a time judgement dependent on how badthe infection was when your colon perforated. I had mine done after 12 months and the surgery was much easier (because elective surgery is always easier than emergency admission when you're already ill when you have the operation). Some surgeons here in the UK use a temporary ileostomy after the colon is rejoined to help the join heal, which means you have a temporay ilieostomy. That happened in my case, so I had an ileostomy for a few months and then that was removed in a simple laparoscopic operation (very easy/quick recovery). Again I think this may depend on what your surgeon finds when he attempts to re-join the bowel and reverse the colostomy. I can imagine that the time period between surgeries varies for individuals and you need to ask your surgeon's advice really as they know what they found in the previous surgery.
Good luck with it all anyway - I can tell you that after my two reversal operations, I ended up fine with a more-or-less fully functioning bowel, despite it being 12" shorter!